A beautiful life is on the far side of suffering. Is the bridge you are on strong enough to carry the weight of your suffering?
What if, no matter what our circumstances, we could experience true joy?

This fall we have been looking at the Gospel of Luke chapter 10 and thinking together about how we can live beautiful lives and build beautiful neighborhoods. We will continue this theme as we shift our focus to the letter of First Thessalonians, likely the apostle Paul’s earliest, sent to the church in the city of Thessalonica.

Read the first chapter of 1Thessalonians this weekend. Notice how thankful Paul is for this group of people and how much influence they had far and wide. Why? Look at verses 6 and 7.

Somehow the Thessalonian Church was able to maintain joy in the midst of severe suffering. How? What if we could learn to do the same?

This will be our focus Sunday: how to maintain the strength of joy under the weight of suffering; beautiful lives in the midst of ugliness.